Document Accessibility Test - Automated + Manual PDF Checklist

A full test has two parts

Automated testing is fast and consistent, but it can only answer questions like "is there alt text?". It cannot tell you whether the alt text is any good. A complete test pairs the automated checks with a short manual review, and this page does both: the software runs first, then you work through a checklist and tick off each item.

Your ticks go into the downloaded report along with the date, so the report shows which parts were checked by software and which were confirmed by a person.

Doing the manual checks properly

Allow about ten minutes per document:

• Reading order: listen to two or three pages in NVDA or with Acrobat's Read Out Loud. Columns, sidebars and captions are where the order usually goes wrong.
• Alt text: read each description without looking at the picture. Would you know what it shows and why it is there?
• Contrast: check light grey text and any text placed over a photo. Body text needs a ratio of 4.5:1, and any free contrast checker will calculate it from two colour codes.
• Use of colour: look at charts and forms in black and white. If some meaning disappears, it was carried by colour alone.

Testing Word, PowerPoint and Google Docs files

Export the file to PDF with tagging switched on, then test the PDF here. When you find a problem, fix it in the original and export again, because fixes made only in the PDF are lost the next time someone edits the source.

Word and PowerPoint also have their own checker under Review > Check Accessibility. It catches some problems before you export, and it is worth running both.